Here is a quick version of my story. I was working at a fast food place in 2008. as I was setting up the shake machine a section of the menu board fell and hit me on the head. This caused issues with my neck and shortly thereafter I was diagnosed with fibro. I seem to have symptoms none of my drs understand. I have pain and tingling in both arms as well as weakness. I am also extremely overweight and trying to lose it. The weight piled on at 5# a week for 6 months and then slowed some. I am now more than 150# I am working so hard to get it off but Sometimes the pain makes it so hard. For example my left hand is getting tired just typing this. I am also on a plethora of meds. I take 60 mg of Cymbalta each morning and 50 mg of trazadone each night. I also have flexril darvocet and motrin 600 to take on an as needed basis. I dont like being on all these meds and I was wondering if anyone could give me any suggestions to improve my fitness so that maybe I can feel better. Oh it would probably be good to add that I also have adult onset scoliosis and Degenerative Disk disease in my cervical spine so any exercise i do must be back friendly. Thanks for anything you might have to add.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your Fibro isn't going to go away. And the truth is the more you exercise and push yourself...the worse you're going to feel.

I totally understand wanting to lose weight. I've been skinny my whole life and then after having my 3rd child (almost 10 years ago) I started slowly gaining weight. I am so addicted to candy and junk food and in the past year when I go to my doctor appts every 2 months the scale shows I've gained a couple more pounds each time. I've never weighed THIS much in my life (except when I was pregnant!) and I'm seriously having issues with it now! I really want to lose about 10-15 pounds! I know with the Fibro I can't do too much, so I started walking up and down my driveway, which is 1/4 mile long, for exercise. Well honestly that only lasted a few days because then I started re-doing my daughter's room and all my energy is going to that so I'm not walking AND doing the other.

Any ways....what I'm trying to say is that you really have to pace yourself and NOT "over do" it. I always say it might take me twice as long to get something done (painting my daughter's room, losing weight, etc) but eventually I WILL get it done!

Also, you really need those meds. The cymbalta helps with fibro pain but it also helps emotionally because this illness does tend to get depressing. You need the sleeping meds and muscle relaxer to sleep, with Fibro your body needs that sleep so it can repair itself and fibro sufferers usually can't sleep without meds. And the pain meds you need for obvious reasons, with Fibro the pain isn't going to go away. It may be better some days but it's just not going to go completely away. I know there are people on here who don't take prescriptions and only use natural remedies for these symptoms. But honestly, I really think if you CAN take the prescription meds, then they will help more than anything else will. (but that's just my personal opinion)

I don't know if any of this is going to help you or even if it is answering the questions you asked! LOL But I really hope I've helped in some way. Take Care, Stacey :o)

Exercise is good for Fibro, you just have to start slow and not push yourself to hard. Can you work with a physical therapist a couple times so they can design exercises that are back friendly. Also a nutrionalist could also help you loose weight, watching your caloric intake can be the easiest diet to do. A nutrionalist can look at your weight and give you the info you need as a place to start your weight loss journey. more calories leaving your body compared to going in= weight loss. There is also a test now to determine a person's natural metabolism this can also help determine a person's caloric requirments compaired to the amount of exercise needed to loose weight more efficantly.
I love yoga as an easy exercise, maybe google back friendly yoga. You also want to choose exercises that are easy on joints, like Aqua exercises, they can be a good choice.

Also, regaurding the meds, if you don't find they are helping, then you have to keep trying until you find what works for you. I would also recommend finding a good rhemuy who knows about Fibro, because the medical community is still learning about fibro, some Drs believe Motrin doesn't work well for Fibro, others perscribe it. It's a trial and error with Fibro and every aspect of it.
Good luck